Description:Pictured is the front cover of a booklet produced for the Inaugural meeting of the Lotus ‘25’ Club which was formed in 1958 for employees from the Stafford and Stone shoe factories and Lotus and Delta retail branches with 25 years’ service or more with the company. Within the booklet is an introduction by James Bostock, Chairman, Lotus Ltd. followed by the names of employees who were invited to attend the event.
Lotus was originally named Bostock's and was founded in the eighteenth century by Thomas Bostock, a cobbler. His three sons started their own factories in Stafford, Stone and Northampton. The original Stone factory can still be seen behind Granville Terrace. In 1919 the three factories amalgamated to become Lotus Ltd.
Lotus remained in Stone until the 1970s. The building was purchased by G.E.C. Meters in 1978 and during 1996 ABB acquired G.E.C. Meters which then became the home of ABB Meters. The old factory buildings on Cross Street and Oulton Road were demolished in 1999 and new housing built.
Edwin Bostock's original Stafford factory was on Foregate Street. The building was destroyed by fire in 1901, but was rebuilt on Sandon Road in 1903. The Sandon Road factory was demolished in 1998 and replaced by a housing development.